Autonomous biomimetic motors fueled by peptide assembly
Document Actions
News
Contains news items.
Hot paper from Matsui Group
Prof. Matsui's new paper was designated as a hot paper by a top journal in chemistry.
Cover of Chemical Reviews
Professor Drain's review article is featured on the cover of the most prestigious review journal in chemistry.
ACS Fellow from Hunter
Professor Spiro Alexandratos was elected to become a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.
Cancer Sensor Chip
Hunter Chemists have developed a cancer sensor chip, which was highlighted as one of five recent research news in National Cancer Institute
Fulbright Scholar
Prof. Alexandratos has been named a Fulbright Scholar for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Prestigious Award to Nurxat Nuraje (Matsui Group)
Nurxat Nuraje in the Prof. Matsui's group received the prestigious 2008 Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Award.
Prof. Alexandratos elected to the ACS Committee on Science
Prof. Alexandratos was elected to the ACS Committee on Science
New Dyes for Organic Solar Cells Developed
Three new modes for assembling and attaching organic dyes in solar cells developed by Hunter team
Autonomous biomimetic motors fueled by peptide assembly
A new hybrid biomimetic motor system powered by the release of consisting of diphenylalanine (DPA) peptides from a metal-organic framework (MOF) in a manner resembling the metabolization and production of resources in cells. In nature, biological motors convert chemical free energy to mechanical power directly by creating isothermal and non-equilibrium conditions through biochemical reactions such as the metabolism of chemicals by cells to produce products that are simultaneously exploited as energy resources. In this new bioinspired system, a MOF is used to encapsulate DPA peptides in its pores. Release of the stored peptides and their subsequent reconfiguration into hydrophobic assemblies creates a non-equilibrium condition by generating a large surface tension gradient. The chemical energy generated by this process propels the MOF to swim like bacteria towards the higher surface tension side of the gradient. Lessons learned from understanding how this “motor” operates could be used to design systems that sense, capture, and store or “metabolize” target chemicals and control the local environment of materials.
